The Hotel du Mont Blanc is a cheap Paris hotel in the heart of the Latin Quarter on the Left Bank (5th Arrondissement). I recommend it for younger travelers on a very tight budget looking for a clean, safe place to sleep in Paris.
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Don’t expect too much for 65 euros a night (for a Single room, 85E for a double). The small rooms are bare, and you won’t find any amenities, other than air conditioning. There’s no furniture other than a twin bed (with no headboard), a small shelf for the phone, and a small, old TV up on a shelf. And the shower was so small that you can’t bend over to pick anything up.
Hotel du Mont Blanc Location
The big sell is Hotel du Mont Blanc’s location, with everything you could ever need right outside your front door. It’s right on Rue de la Huchette, which is the main pedestrian-only street that runs through the Latin Quarter. The St. Michel Metro stop (Line 6 and an RER stop for convenient airport transport) is just steps away, as is Place St. Michel (the student hangout spot). You can grab a breakfast pastry at the bakery across the street, and then hop right on the Metro to start your day. This budget hotel is a great launch pad for getting up and out quickly.
This location is also literally a block away from the Seine River, a two-minute walk to Ile de la Cite and Notre Dame, around the corner from Shakespeare & Company, and a quick walk across a couple bridges to the Right Bank and the Hotel de Ville (another hangout spot for young folks).
If you want to spend your evenings by the river with a bottle of wine, or hang out on the bridges, or hit the bars, clubs, and restaurants in the Latin Quarter, you can’t beat this location from a social perspective.
Another reason I like the location is that if you stay out late, you don’t have to worry about walking own abandoned streets to reach your hotel. People are in the streets until the wee hours in this lively part of town. (My favorite grec / gyro spot is nearby too, for a late night snack.)
Speaking of wee hours, it is absolutely essential for a good night’s sleep that you request a room facing the courtyard (it’s just an interior area, not a floral garden). Ask for this when you book, confirm it again prior to your arrival, and bring the reservation printout with you that shows a courtyard room. This will keep you from being disturbed by street noise (music from the bars, people in the street, the garbage trucks, and the early morning delivery trucks).
The hotel’s most memorable feature (or most maligned depending on who you ask) is its tiny, vintage elevator. There’s only enough room for one person with a suitcase, or two people with no luggage. Request a room on a lower floor to give yourself the option of taking the stairs.
I found the staff to be friendly and helpful, but there are a few house rules: There’s no food allowed in the rooms, they also don’t allow visitors in the rooms, and you have to surrender your key at the front desk every time you leave – which is not that uncommon in Paris or elsewhere in Western Europe.
If you have any kind of minimum hotel expectations, Hotel du Mont Blanc isn’t the place for you. But if you’re on a budget and can accept something with no frills, you can have a nice stay in a sought after neighborhood. Hemingway stayed at the Mont Blanc in the 1930′s on his visits to Paris and his is the mentality one needs to have to appreciate a stay here: All that matters is that you’re in Paris.
